Intervention during pregnancy and early childhood may offer the best way to curtail the obesity epidemic for the next generation. In this film, we tell the story of Kerri, an overweight woman who was diagnosed with gestational diabetes during her first pregnancy. With the help of her doctors and the support of her husband, she successfully managed her condition and gave birth to a healthy son, whom she is now raising with a careful eye on the development of health-promoting habits that will last a lifetime.

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic, degenerative disease that affects the body’s blood vessels, which may explain why the disease damages so many organs in our bodies, literally from our heads to our toes. The good news is, when it comes to type 2 diabetes, research has shown that there are small steps that people can take to prevent or delay its onset, such as losing a modest amount of weight (if you are overweight), being more physically active and making healthier food choices.

We all need to work together to get our nation to a healthy weight. Community participation is one of the most important factors in combating the obesity epidemic. A community that works together and is invested in one another will have greater success, even against difficult circumstances.

This film highlights the efforts of one community—Santa Ana, California—to improve their environment and reduce the devastating effects of overweight and obesity on its largely Latino population.

Combating obesity is more than just an issue of personal responsibility—government has a major role to play if we’re going to win this fight. In this film, we spend time in Nashville, Tennessee, to learn how the city’s leaders, with help from the federal government, have taken a proactive role in trying to make the healthy choice the easy choice for its citizens.

Obesity plays a role in a number of health issues, heart disease foremost among them. In this film, Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, the chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, talks in detail about the connection between excess weight over the course of a lifetime and the development of heart disease.

It’s shocking to believe that, in a country as developed as ours, something as innocuous as the neighborhood you live in could so strongly affect your lifespan. When it comes to obesity and its related chronic diseases, some evidence suggests that your zip code may matter more than your genetic code. This bonus short offers a sweeping view of the issues surrounding socioeconomic disparities that can dramatically affect not just health, but life expectancy. We touch down in cities across the country and hear from local residents and preeminent thinkers on the issue.

The prejudice faced by obese people takes an enormous toll. Some people tease others about their weight, perhaps thinking the teasing would help motivate them to lose weight. But evidence points to the contrary: the pain and isolation many overweight and obese people feel can actually contribute to future weight gain, rather than setting them on a path toward better health.

Overweight in the Workplace: How Wellness Programs Can Help the American Workforce
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As a nation, obesity is driving our health care costs up and dragging our economy down. Experts estimate that obesity in our workforce costs businesses more than $73 billion each year in lost productivity. This film looks at the efforts of one small corporation—the Nabholz Construction Company in Conway, Arkansas—to improve the health of its workforce and save money.

This bonus short follows Nola, a participant in a study examining the reasons it’s so hard to keep weight off after losing a significant amount. The Columbia University scientists behind the NIH-supported study, Dr. Rudolph Leibel and Dr. Michael Rosenbaum, have been researching the effects of the hormone leptin on weight maintenance. Their work on the underlying mechanisms controlling weight may one day help us better understand why it’s so hard to lose weight and keep it off.

How much does your DNA affect your BMI? With contributions from experts like Dr. David Altshuler of Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Rudolph Leibel of Columbia University Medical Center, and Dr. Francis Collins, director of the NIH and leader of the Human Genome Project, this film explores the causes of obesity and asks the questions we often ask: Why are some people lean and others obese? Is obesity a matter of genetics or environment? If our parents are heavy, are we fated to be fat?

While Americans should be eating significantly more fruits and vegetables, they are often hard to come by. This film examines the difficulties involved in increasing access to healthy, affordable fruits and vegetables and showcases successful stories. It follows the Practical Farmers of Iowa, a group of fruit and vegetable farmers who explain the challenges they face; agriculture experts David Wallinga and John Ikerd also provide insights. The film also highlights Dr. Preston Maring, who pioneered the nation’s first hospital-based farmers market, Texas comptroller Susan Combs and supermarket owner David Ball, who are all using bold and innovative strategies to increase access to healthy foods.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) invests more than $800 million per year into researching the causes, consequences, prevention and treatment of obesity. This film visits the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., where some of the world’s most advanced clinical trials on obesity are being conducted.